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I got to fly to Traverse City, Michigan, to accept a beautiful bronze medal for The Spill with its incredible author, Author Jacqueline Leigh! The book won the medal in the Picture Book – Preschool category of the Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards.

What made this trip even more special was getting to take my biggest supporter–my amazing mom Cathy–on this adventure with me! We had so much fun exploring the beautiful town of Traverse City and celebrating one of our favorite shared passions–books!

My other favorite part of this amazing trip was getting to finally MEET Jackie! She and I had so much fun working together over the last year and a half to bring Faye to life, and we never imagined we would be meeting for the first time at an AWARD CEREMONY! (We went through the entire illustration process for The Spill living on opposite ends of the country in two different time zones! Thanks to technology like texts, emails, Skype, and Dropbox, we never missed a beat!)

Meeting Jackie was like meeting up with an old dear friend!

At the Moonbeam Awards ceremony, each medalist got the change to speak about their book for a minute or so, and I cannot put into words how inspiring that part of the evening was! (Maybe that’s why I’m an illustrator, and not an author?) 😉

The award-winning books covered a wide range of meaningful topics, across all age levels and genres. Tears were flowing at tables across the room after many acceptance speeches, and the feelings of solidarity and camaraderie among the authors, illustrators, publishers, and their special guests was contagious!

Here are some more fun pictures from the ceremony and our day exploring Traverse City!

But there’s one farm icon–hands down–that has always been my very favorite.

Windmills.

I am drawn to those towering, rusty structures like moths to a flame.

I adore those sentinels that keep watch over their farms and keep the all-important waters flowing. I always have, and I always will.

I can tell you where darn near every windmill is in my whole county–after all, aren’t huge windmills perfect landmarks?

And lately, I have loved seeing more and more windmills popping up everywhere I look. On pinterest. At the craft store. At the antique store, at the hardware store, pretty much everywhere . . . which makes me realize that I’m clearly not the only woman in the world with an affinity for Aermotors!

I have given it a lot of thought, often during the countless hours I’ve spent seeking out my own perfect antique windmill, scanning newspaper classifieds and craigslist columns to no avail. I may not have found my own perfect (attainable) antique windmill yet, but I think I have figured out why we females all like them so darn much! (And no–it’s not because Joanna Gaines sneaks them into her farmhouse decor collections now and again. But hey, can you blame her?)

Nope. Women love windmills because we are just like them.

Windmills represent us. Beautifully.

We are sentinels, too; standing silent watch at our nursery doors while our little ones struggle for precious sleep, or at the front door while our not-so-little ones race to make it home before curfew. We stand strong, around the clock, just like they do. Because our workday doesn’t end when the sun goes down, either.

We stand by our husbands, our partners, through the strongest storms of our marriages, and keep our own wells from going dry.

We stand tall and strong, no matter how fiercely the winds are blowing our way. We absorb those winds, the forces of nature we can’t control, and we turn them into goodness.

We turn adversity into growth, and struggles into successes. We turn hard work into reward. We turn and we turn and we turn, so our families can thrive.

We pump (and sometimes literally pump) ourselvesinto keeping our children, our families, and our relationships healthy. We may slow down at times, but we never quit.

Women are just like windmills. Beautiful and sturdy, steadfast and striking–just what every landscape needs.

I hope that the next time you see a windmill, mama, you will take the chance to tell yourself what a good job you are doing.

This week at my favorite Indie bookstore, This House of Books, we had a very special guest! Julie Sola, author and illustrator of RUN FAST, MILO! and Possum Dreams, was in town to sign books. She also gave a fantastic demonstration on print making.

Both of her books were illustrated with hand-pulled linoleum cuts that were carved and printed by hand at Hatch Show Print in Nashville, Tennessee, on a 1968 Vandercook proofing press.

I have never hand-printed anything before, so this demonstration was absolutely fascinating to me!

Here I am, giving it a try! I am using a spoon on the back of my print, making sure all the ink gets spread onto the paper evenly. I was surprised at how little ink I needed to make such a bold print!

Here are the two prints I “pulled” from Julie’s original hand-carved blocks:

I was completely enamored with this method of illustration, and I can’t wait to go find all of the odds and ends I need to start experimenting! I learned what “brayers” are, (the rollers) what kind of ink to use, how to keep from cutting your hands while cutting away your shapes, and how to “think in reverse!”

The icing on the cake was all the fun we had meeting Rod Stewart’s band/road crew! (Julie is also his costume/wardrobe manager, when she isn’t busy making amazing art!)

I had the pleasure of teaching a kids workshop on illustration a few weeks ago at my favorite Billings bookstore, This House of Books!

In a wonderful summer series the bookstore hosted for children featuring workshops from different STEAM careers, I was honored to fill the slot for the “A” with some Art. I am a firm believer in the importance of the arts in our lives, and even more so in the lives of our children and students.

I brought my sketches, my storyboard, and my final watercolor paintings for The Spill, so I could show the kids my process from start to finish.

I even brought my light box along, which was a huge hit! All the kids got the chance to trace Faye, just like I did so many times throughout the six months it took me to finish all the artwork for the book.

The kids learned about basic story elements like setting, characters, and plot; they learned how to show emotion and action through body language in illustrations, and they even sketched their own storyboards!

I was thrilled to see such amazing little budding artists, who will be the storytellers of tomorrow! This event made me even more grateful for a life involving books, art, and children. What a beautiful combination!

Thanks so much to This House of Books for inviting me to come present this fun workshop! We will ALWAYS need stories and stories are so much better with pictures. I felt so lucky to get to share the wonderful world of illustration with such creative little minds–our authors and illustrators of tomorrow!

**Draw something everyday!**

~Erika

(Huge thanks also go to Rosanna Buehl–one of our amazing bookstore volunteers–for all of these awesome pictures!!)

Last week, my dad’s hometown of Hobson, Montana celebrated its “100-Year Class Reunion.” Hobson is a bustling town (of just over 200 people!) in central Montana, and it has always had a special place in my heart!

My folks drove up for the festivities, and they made my day when they sent me some very special pictures:

Right there, as they walked in, was my book on display! I was thrilled because I am so honored to have a book with my name on the cover in the library of the tiny town where my grandmother was a schoolteacher!

The librarian of this amazing little library is my dad’s cousin (Kimberly Baumann) and when she contacted me to order a signed copy, I had no idea it would be finding such a wonderful home!

The Hobson Library is both vibrant and cozy at the same time; it is an absolute gem that is cherished by its community.

Hobson is proof that a town can get by without a stop light or a gas station–but every town sure needs a library!

Here are some pictures of this adorable library!

It even has a fireplace!

As Albert Einstein said, “The only thing that you absolutely have to know is the location of the library.”

And in Hobson, it isn’t hard to find!

***Thanks so much Kim, and the Hobson Library, for making room on your shelves for The Spill!

It has been an exciting year for me and even more exciting for Hank the Tank!

In the last few months, Hank graduated from pacifiers, his crib, and from diapers; he celebrated his 3rd birthday, he went on his first road trip with a hotel stay, and he even learned how to ride a bike! (With “twaining” wheels) 🙂

In that same period of time, my first published book as an illustrator was released, and I celebrated with my very first Book Signing! (I am still pinching myself about that adorable book!)

Needless to say, it has been a very busy spring! I hardly had a second to catch my breath chasing my tornado-toddler around, so I didn’t get much time to write any Tired Mama tales for the blog. What I DID write this spring though, were a few new children’s book manuscripts and I can’t wait to (hopefully) bring those to life soon as well!

As I have discovered is true with motherhood, I am finding the only constant in life is change. I have been so humbled to have you all following along with my (mis!)adventures in motherhood, but my course is shifting somewhat these days. My focus is now on LIVING the moments with Hank, rather than reflecting and writing them while he sleeps. These days are so precious and so action-packed that I just can’t seem to find the time it takes to put them into words anymore!

That said–I also realize this is a great opportunity to simplify my social channels and combine my blog and my illustrator portfolio website into one streamlined site, which I have been working on this week. I’d still love to have you all follow along to keep up to speed on my book projects, author/illustrator news, and my artwork, but I’m afraid the motherhood stories will be fewer and farther in between!

Thanks so much for your support these past few years. I hope you hang around to see where the future takes us!

Cheers to new focus and . . . to a new name for this blog: Erika Wilson Books!

I had a dream come true last month! I had a book signing for my very first illustrated picture book–The Spill! I have to say thanks to Author Jacqueline Leigh for choosing me over all the other illustrators who also test painted for this book. It was an honor to get to be the one to bring Faye to life!

My signing was at This House of Books, in downtown Billings, which is a cool little Indie bookstore I am a co-op member/owner of. It was a great location to host the signing, as it is also a tea shop, so everyone got to enjoy some of their amazing iced tea blends!

I had a great turnout and I am so grateful for everyone’s support of this adorable book. I am still pinching myself over the fact that it is officially releasing tomorrow!

I have to say a very special thank you to my parents, who have always fostered my love of art (and bought me endless art supplies while I was in school!) I wouldn’t be illustrating anything today if I hadn’t had them encouraging me every step of the way!